Quitting rice can be a challenging endeavor, especially when the rice has been a part of your daily meals for years. Fortunately, there are alternatives you can resort to and veggie rice is one of them.
While veggie rice sounds daunting, veggie rice has lots of good things to offer but what is veggie rice? I looked into it, and here’s what I found!
What Is Veggie Rice?
Veggie rice refers to vegetables that have been chopped into fine pieces until they resemble rice grains. Typically, riced vegetables are made from broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, daikon, and parsnips. These vegetables are often riced using a food processor. Additionally, veggie rice can be seasoned with a wide variety of spices and herbs.
In case you’re interested to learn more about the qualities of veggie rice and why veggie rice is such a great rice alternative for your everyday meals, keep reading!
Where Does Vegetable Rice Come From?
There’s no information about where veggie rice originated.
Since ricing vegetables is hard work, it’s reasonable to believe that veggie rice was either invented or popularized at the onset of blenders and food processors.
However, it’s also possible that people have been ricing vegetables as an alternative to rice or addition to rice dishes for centuries now.
What Is Veggie Rice Made Of?
Veggie rice can be made from almost any vegetable. Nevertheless, certain vegetables are preferable to others.
Some of the most popular options for veggie rice include sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, and winter squash.
Additionally, you can use a combination of leftover vegetables in your fridge and rice them together. This is an easy and highly recommended way of using up all of your vegetables.
What Does Veggie Rice Taste Like?
Veggie rice differs in taste, depending on the vegetables you’re ricing and how you choose to season them.
Generally, veggie rice will taste most like the vegetable you choose to rice. If you use sweet potato, the veggie rice will be starchy and sweet.
Moreover, if you use broccoli, the veggie rice will have a combination of sweet and bitter tastes. Using strong seasonings can mask the vegetal taste of veggie rice.
Most importantly, don’t expect veggie rice to be bland like regular rice.
What Is Veggie Fried Rice?
Veggie fried rice can refer to two things. It can either be riced vegetables that have been stir-fried like regular rice, or rice that has been stir-fried with riced veggies.
Additionally, veggie fried rice that is mixed with regular rice is a popular dish in Asian countries. However, veggie fried rice doesn’t always mean the veggies are riced.
What Is Birds Eye Veggie Rice?
Birds Eye is a brand that sells veggie rice made out of a combination of different vegetables. Some of the vegetables Birds Eye uses are cauliflower, broccoli, corn, and peas.
Additionally, Birds Eye sells pure cauliflower rice and seasoned veggie rice. Moreover, Bird’s eye also has risotto veggie rice and coconut veggie rice.
How To Cook Birds Eye Veggie Rice?
Birds Eye veggie rice is sold frozen, so you’ll want to thaw the veggie rice first. Afterward, you can cook the veggie rice in the microwave or on the stove.
Typically, Birds Eye veggie rice is cooked on the stove, either steamed or stir-fried with eggs and other ingredients like mushrooms.
You can also use a rice cooker to steam the Birds Eye veggie rice if you want a healthier meal.
Is Veggie Fried Rice Gluten-Free?
Veggie rice is gluten-free since all vegetables naturally do not contain any gluten. However, boxed veggie rice may contain gluten.
Manufacturers that sell instant or boxed veggie rice may add gluten-containing ingredients like wheat starch, therefore making the veggie rice unsuitable for celiacs.
How To Make Veggie Rice?
To make veggie rice, choose vegetables you want to rice and wash them thoroughly. Make sure that you peel the carrots and sweet potatoes, as well as other vegetables with skins.
For broccoli and cauliflower, cut them so that there are only a few inches of stem attached to the florets.
Afterward, use a blender or a food processor to rice the vegetables one by one. If it’s your first time ricing vegetables, take your time gauging the consistency of the vegetables.
Running the blender or food processor for too long can turn your vegetables into a liquid, so make sure not to overdo it. Also, wash the blender or food processor before each use.
Once the vegetables have been riced, you can either eat them raw or saute them together on a pan until the veggies are partially or fully cooked.
How To Make Veggie Rice Stir Fry?
You can make veggie rice stir-fry two ways. First, you can mix regular rice with veggie rice and stir-fry them with eggs, tofu, and your desired seasonings.
Moreover, you can opt out of using rice and simply stir-fry the veggie rice with eggs and mushrooms and season with herbs and spices.
For a riced veggie, you can use single meat or a combination of different proteins to give your veggie rice stir-fry an umami flavor.
How Many Calories In A Veggie Rice Bowl?
A veggie rice bowl can have different amounts of calories depending on the kinds of vegetables you use and the quantity.
Additionally, there’s the matter of how you cook and season your veggie rice bowl. Generally, however, riced veggies are low in calories.
For a standard serving of veggie rice bowl with meager seasoning, expect to consume less than 200 calories.
Is Veggie Rice Vegan?
Veggie rice can be vegan if you don’t season veggie rice with butter or other animal by-products. Moreover, veggie rice must not be mixed with eggs for it to be vegan.
Can You Lose Weight With Veggie Rice?
Veggie rice is significantly lower in calories compared to rice. By eating veggie rice regularly as an alternative to real rice, you can cut back on a lot of calories daily.
Check out our other articles to find out what cream of rice is, what vermicelli rice is, and what parboiled rice is.
Conclusion
Veggie rice is an alternative to regular rice that is made of finely chopped vegetables. Usually, veggie rice is made of cauliflower, broccoli, beet, and carrots.
Moreover, veggie rice can be made at home using a blender or a food processor, or you can buy veggie rice from stores as frozen food.